Aberdeen proving grounds. (1 Viewer)

Rob

Rob

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I understand this is a large outdoor museum featuring many WW2 Tanks and vehicles.Has anyone on here been there?.If so is it worth visiting?.Are the Tanks outside labelled with info etc?.

Would appreciate any info,thanks

Rob
 
I've never been there Rob but I hear Warrior has. It's on my list to check out.
 
Rob said:
I understand this is a large outdoor museum featuring many WW2 Tanks and vehicles.Has anyone on here been there?.If so is it worth visiting?.Are the Tanks outside labelled with info etc?.

Would appreciate any info,thanks

Rob
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Rob,

Aberdeen is a must see tank museum, one of the three best and largest in the world. It has an extensive collection with some unique vehicles. Most of the tanks are outside and there are information plaques that just say what the vehicles are, but not much else.

Their artillery collection is second to none, which includes two railroad guns. Also, there is an inside musuem with small arms and some great displays. The main problem with the museum is that it is run by a private fund and many of the tanks are need of restoration after being kept outside for so many years.

Ken
 
Mascleo said:
Rob,

Aberdeen is a must see tank museum, one of the three best and largest in the world. It has an extensive collection with some unique vehicles. Most of the tanks are outside and there are information plaques that just say what the vehicles are, but not much else.

Their artillery collection is second to none, which includes two railroad guns. Also, there is an inside musuem with small arms and some great displays. The main problem with the museum is that it is run by a private fund and many of the tanks are need of restoration after being kept outside for so many years.

Ken
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Thanks Ken thats very helpful.I have seen the museum in lots of docus and really want to go there.Thanks again

Rob
 
Absolutly Wonderful Place To Go,i Went There Awhile Back And Had A Great Time,it Has A Huge Array Of Vehicles And Surprisingly Not That Busy,my Family And I Are Heading Back East For Two Weeks And My Boy Has Not Been To The Proving Grounds And We Are Both Excited To Be Going.....sammy
 
Where is it located?

Fort Benning in Georgia also has a wonderful military museum.

Should you ever wake up and find yourself in Paris Les Invalides, is one of the finest military museums in the world.

Including "Napies Tomb", a wonderful hall full of flags captured by Napoleon, suits of armour...........and of course Napies motorcycle collection!
 

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Hi all,
I grew up about 15 minutes from there and still live within an hour. Great museum, you can see it online, just do a search. Still there to date, although the ordnance school is moving, so who knows? My stepdad is a semi retired ballistics division chief at APG, I will ask him the latest status. They have some terrific pieces, some again are online.

Tom
 
Yo Troopers, coming in on this the Tank museum that is a MUST and the best is at Bovington in Dorset, most of the tanks still run as well, they used to bring them out once a year for a run out. I know you WWII guys call the large Tiger a King Tiger, when I was stationed at Bovington it was known as the Royal Tiger awesome machine. Its a long time back, but the story then was the Germans only made four of them, they were so heavy they could hardley move across country, if I am wrong on this ok, but as I say it was a long time back lol.
Bernard.
 
Hi all, ok, had more time to get the links, details etc.

The Ordnance Museum at APG http://www.ordmusfound.org/ is located in Aberdeen, Maryland which is northeast of Baltimore City in Harford County. They used to sponsor a munitions day this time of year, but unfortunately post 9/11, that has not happened. Great time to see tanks firing, etc. Oh well, the Museum is still worth the trip.

Tom
 
Hi Guys,

You will find that most of the major military bases have a museum on post (or base for the zoomies and squids out there) They are usually open to the public and have some great displays. Fort Lewis has quite a nice one with a bunch of vehicles and other items on display. For the armor guys out there Ft Knox is just fantastic and well worth a trip to Kentucky to see it. APG is the biggest and is also well worth a trip from Baltimore and for your wives it isnt too far from the Pennsylvania Dutch Country with lots a great shops selling alsorts of Amish goods.

Enjoy the trips

All the best

Dave
 
I was stationed in APG and the museum there does have quite a collection. As mentioned on another post the outdoor portion (tanks/SPG mostly) is not quite up to snuff as far as restoration:(, unless they have infused some serious money in the last few years. Many of the vehicles had pretty substandard painting schemes (read made up). The indoor museum is quite good though. It's really a shame because they do have some great pieces just limited funding. Maybe it has changed? I'll take Bovington for my money.:) I really can't believe there is not a large national museum dedicated to this:confused:. Maybe they could build one over the bridge at the end of the road to nowhere that some congressman will be building next year:D:):D.
 
APG is trying to get the outdoors stuff painted or semi-restored. Their problem is that after the collection was assembled by Col. George Jarrett the museum fell into the hands of government bureacrats. The outdoors stuff was basically left out to rust. Over the last few curators there has been more effort to get stuff pulled in to a restoration facility and repaired/painted. It's a slow process with limited funds and volunteers.

The Patton Museum at Ft. Knox has the second largest collection of German stuff (after APG) and had a more active acquisition and restoration program so they are in better shape. A LOT of the their collection isn't on public display - a lot of vehicles are tucked away.

Both bases and museums have or will be affected by recent base realignment and closure (BRAC) actions. The Armor School is to move from Ft. Knox to Ft. Benning and a portion of the Patton Museum collection will go with it - I am not aware of definite plans except that there will be a Patton Museum maintained at Ft. Knox.

The Field Artillery School at Ft. Sill, OK has (or at least had) a tremendous artillery collection from many nations over the years. As mentioned, major bases/posts have museums of varying quality and there are several good private military vehicle museums in the US.

Gary
 
I wonder what kind of money it takes to restore some of those old classics?
 
Peter Reuss said:
I wonder what kind of money it takes to restore some of those old classics?
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I really don't think it is that difficult at all. The vehicles are sitting on display for years- it isn't like what the Russians and Ukrainians are doing with jerking the things up outta the mud. Also, the bar for display is much lower than for say, displaying antique cars- it's not like AFV's need to be spit polished and that sort of thing. Depending on how technical you want to get with it, you can drain the oil and hydraulics and even jerk out some of the major components and still have a tank- not many people want to look over an old Sherman diesel engine.

It's just that other costs take precedent I guess.

Here in Carlisle, they have the US Army heritage trail- I was stunned to discover they have 1 of 5 known Pak 43/1's still in existence- it is a monster.
 
Peter Reuss said:
So if we can get together $10,000 from the forum how far might that go :D
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Well, if it's just a case of getting a decent paint job on them, I know a source in the UK, who must have a ridiculous amount of green paint. :)
 
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